Moldova is a fascinating country. It sounds both very remote and yet very familiar to my ear – something about Transylvania and the Carpathian Mountains to the west, the Black Sea to the east. It seems to sit at a sinister juncture of fairytale and legend. But in reality, Moldova is a country covered by gently rolling hills that reach no higher than 1000 feet. There are lush valleys and rich pastures with a very temperate climate that is not too cold in the winter and not too hot in the summer and it gets just the right amount of rain for farming grapes.

In fact, Moldova has been growing grapes for millennia. There is evidence suggesting that the native Moldovans were making wine as early as 3000 B.C.E. There has been constant cultivation since that time, excepting the 300 years of Ottoman rule that destroyed many of their vineyards. Further damage was caused during both World Wars, decimating their wine stocks. However, in the post-war period, there has been a concerted effort to replant the wonderful hillsides with vines and bring production back to its former glory.

They have succeeded to a very great extent and replanted many indigenous varieties such as the difficult to pronounce “Feteasca Alba”, “Rarã Neagrã” and “Zghiharda.” They have also followed global trends and replanted the lands with more international varieties, including Cabernet Sauvignon, which seems to thrive almost everywhere, as well as Merlot, Pinot Noir, Riesling, Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay.

Until I tasted this remarkable wine, I couldn’t really predict what I would be tasting. I have had many, many red Cabernet Sauvignon wines and even had a few rosés, but I have never had a white wine made with it. This wine makes you appreciate just why Cabernet Sauvignon is indeed a superstar among grape varieties. My son would call it “o.p.” or overpowered. When it is gently pressed to preserve its fruit flavors and keep out the colors and polyphenols from the skins, it yields a white wine that has some beautiful aromas and flavors. Fresh and approachable, you smell grapefruit, herbs, perhaps some mango, pineapple and banana, and maybe just a hint of jalapeño. Then on the palate, you get creamy textures of summer fruit and with a mineral finish that is completely satisfying. Like most Cabernet’s, this is a full-bodied wine that is perfect with a range of flavors including shell fish, mature hard cheese, and charcuterie.

Thanks for reading,

Seema

I often hear people refer to the wine they are drinking as “Pinot” – but since “Pinot” comes in red, rosé and white, not to mention sparkling, one should disambiguate!  Is it the blanc, the gris or the noir?  What does “blanc de noir” mean?  And what is the difference by the way between “gris” and “grigio”?

Today, we will explore all of these questions
The word “Pinot” is thought to refer to the shape of the grape bunches on the vine because they resemble pine cones.  They have relatively small berries which are tightly packed together in a characteristic shape.  And, given all the names attached to the word “Pinot,” one might be forgiven for thinking that they refer to a family of grapes.  In fact, all the pinots share a genetic fingerprint.  Or in other words, they are all clones or mutations of one variety.  The gris and blanc are just lighter skinned versions of the noir.  Much of this is because the pinot grapes have been around for centuries; some think they have been around for 2,000 years with specific references dating back to the 4th century A.D.  It has had a lot of time to create a highly branched family tree.
The expressions of the various wines span a spectrum of colors, styles and flavors.  Pinot Noir is the red wine made anywhere from a light, fruity easy drinking style full of bright cherry and strawberry notes to a more muscular, grippy style full of forest floor and earthy, meaty aromas.  Most interestingly, it can me made into white sparkling wines, called “blanc de noir.”  This literally means “white from black” and is made by very gently pressing the grapes to ensure that color from the skins does not leech into the wine, which is then fermented as a white wine.
Pinot Blanc wines tend to be made with white grapes into a white wine (obviously) but they are often made in a relatively full-bodied style with moderately aromatic characteristics of stone-fruit, almonds and grapefruit.  It is most widely planted and highly regarded in Alsace, France, Germany, Italy, and Austria. Unfortunately, in most other regions of the world, it is woefully underappreciated and does not receive the attention it deserves!
That is not the case with Pinot Gris or Grigio, which has seen a huge rise in popularity of late.  So, what is the difference between the two?  It is pure style, baby.  Pinot Gris is the French / Alsatian name which also denotes a rounder, softer, fuller-bodied, more scented style.  Pinot Grigio is the Italian name and also the Italian style.  A bit harder-edged, a bit sharper with higher acid and crisper finish.  Both can have beautiful noses with stone fruit and grapefruit with a hint of orange blossom.  Interestingly, different places in the new world have adapted both the names and styles to some extent.  In Oregon for example, the viticultural area rules prohibit calling it “grigio” and one might expect a more Alsatian character to the wines.  New Zealand also hues to the “gris” name and style.  But Washington and California tend to call it “grigio.”  Go figure.
Which brings us to this week’s wine: The Thirsty Owl 2016 Pinot Gris from the Finger Lakes region of New York.  I know some people are skeptical about wine from New York, but this wine will put those doubts to rest.  It is a lovely summer wine that will pair with everything from fresh mozzarella and brie to bratwurst.  The first sign that it is a fuller bodied, softer style of wine is the tall, elegant fluted bottle.  The second sign is, of course, the name.  The third sign is a memory of a balmy, sunny summer in 2016 that allowed the grapes to ripen fully and allowed the creation of a lovely wine full of peach, pear and tropical citrus notes and a light floral quality indicating the relatively cool nights in upstate NY.  Despite only having 12.2% alcohol, it has a creamy, silky texture that slides across your tongue like a cool caress.  And the finish leaves you wondering if you should take the next sip right away or savor the previous one a little longer.
Thanks for reading, Seema

 

 

Summer is the time of the year that I come alive.  Having grown up in India, on a beach in Goa no less, I am still accustomed to sunny days and warm ocean breezes.  Right now, I feel like a bear emerging from hibernation, as the crocuses finally pop up and the forsythia celebrate the changing season with bright yellow sprays of color.

And speaking of celebrating, what better way to cheer on the warmth, the long, lazy days and heat of the sun on your bare skin than to chill down a beautiful bottle of rosé and throw the windows open for the fresh air.  That is exactly what I have been doing with a dry, refreshing bottle of Castello di Bossi Rosato.  Just saying the name of the wine makes me happy.  
rose
The Castello di Bossi Rosato, made from 70% Sangiovese grapes and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, uses the maceration method to gain some color from the red grapes.  That means that it spends approximately 3 hours in contact with the red skins of the grape before the juice is pressed off and fermented separately.  There are two other methods for making rosé wines.  One is just to blend in some red wine to add color.  This is generally not allowed in most wines that want to be labeled as quality wines.  The second is to use a technique called “Saignée”, which means to bleed off.  In this method, some of the wine in a red wine fermentation is bled off after a short period of time to be fermented separately as rosé, which leaves less juice and more skins in the main vat to concentrate the flavors of the red wine.  This technique is used in places like Bandol in Southern France where the grapes may not have ripened enough or in places like Napa Valley, where vintners want to make richer, more extracted wines.  
This Rosato is a dry, dusty, wonderfully aromatic wine full of bright cherries and cranberries and hints of fresh, wild herbs.  On the mouth, it has a bright acidity on the open with a fruity, yeasty lingering finish.  One of the secrets to enjoying a good wine is to appreciate what comes before and after as much as the actual taste.  You should smell it, swirl it, smell again.  As the volatile compounds are released, they tease you with elusive scents that change from second to second.  When you finally taste it, you are invariably surprised because the nose did not reveal all of its treasures.  And then, for a really good wine, you can just enjoy the lingering aromas after you have swallowed it.  Sometimes that is even the best part of the whole experience.  This wine gives you a similar experience.  Each part of the tasting gives you a different impression and a different experience.  And you realize after each sip that the process was so enjoyable that you want to experience the whole thing again.  
 
Serve this wine well chilled – in an ice bucket – with a plate of caprese salad and prosciutto, a light pasta with fresh vegetables and herbs, grilled chicken sausages and sage-scented butternut squash soup (like we did!) or a creamy mushroom risotto…you will be in heaven.
Thanks for reading, Seema

Wine tasting is an endeavor of sheer endurance.  That is a lesson I have learned through sheer, hard work.

Let me start at the beginning.  Sonoma County, 90 minutes north of San Francisco, is gorgeous wine country.  Picture rolling, lush green hillsides, covered in orderly and beautifully staked and grown grape vines interspersed with aspens, sycamores, wild grasses, flowers of all colors and herbs of all fragrances.  Driving through the winding roads, you roll down the windows and smell the fresh air as if it is something that reaches into your lungs and blows wonder into your every pore.
The morning temperatures are cool and breezy and perhaps a bit foggy.  The perfect temperatures to put on a sweater, drink some hot coffee and set off on a day of exploration for the senses.  The afternoon warms you up just enough to sun your face and make you feel like you should find the closest hammock for a nice little nap.  And the evenings… are slow as molasses.  Breathtaking shades of peach and lilac drift through the sky as the sun sinks lazily past the horizon, bringing that hint of chill, making you want to reach for your favorite bottle of pinot noir – or is it zinfandel tonight?
My particular adventure has been in the Dry Creek Valley of Sonoma Valley.  I have never felt more whole as a person than I feel here.  Life is relatively simple here.  People work hard, they grow the grapes, they make the wines and they sell those beautifully labelled bottles full of dark magic.
Sonoma Valley is best know for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the Russian River Valley areas and for their juicy, scrumptious Zinfandels along with world class Sauvignon Blanc (often called “Fume Blanc”) and Cabernets in the distinctive Dry Creek Valley style.
Ferrari-Carano is one of those vineyards that changes one’s life.  You wander up to the Italianate facade and filled with wonder, continue through the magical gardens filled with spring blossoms of cherry and apricot, azaleas and tulips to the fountains and statues, wondering, why can’t I just live here?  Can’t I just move here and leave everything else behind?
And all of this before you even taste the wines!
Wine makers and wine drinkers love to talk about oak.  And given that oak-use is incredibly complicated, it is not surprising.  Oak barrel fermentation, aging in oak, the flavors that oak imparts, the amount of oxidation you get through the porous oak barrels, the type of oak that is used – American, French, Slavonian – and the size of the barrels not to mention the discussions of how the barrels are made and who makes them.
Oak barrels are made in “cooperages,” and each cooperage imparts its own unique character to its barrels.  The staves are the raw materials of oak.  American oak is less dense and can be cut to size.  French oak, with a tighter grain, must be split.  In the most traditional (aka, “best”) cooperages, the staves are left out in the weather for a few years to “condition.”  A lesser cooperage will kiln dry the wood.  Then the staves must be heated to bend the staves into the characteristic shape for a barrel and then roasted for the desired length of time the right amount of “toast”.  The toasting of oak is very important because it determines the flavors that are imparted to the wine.  More butterscotch?  Less smoke?  That is all a function which type of oak and of how the barrel is toasted.
  • White wines tend to show more oak because the wine itself tends to have more delicate flavors and fewer tannins.  The oak  itself has tannins that bind with the proteins in the wine, so whites do not become more tannic with oak fermentation or aging.
  • Red wines on the other hand, already have tannins that have bound with the proteins in the wine. That means that non-neutral oak generally imparts more tannins to red wines than they have naturally.  So, in addition to the vanilla / caramel / butterscotch types of flavors in American oak and the more coconut / hazelnut / smoky flavors in French oak, red wines tend to become more structured in oak barrels.
Two wines that display some oak character:
The Four Foxes Chardonnay is a moderately oaky chardonnay that has had a few years in the bottle.  It is a mellow wine that has notes of apple, pear and apricot with a medium amount of oak.  In contrast, the Treana Chardonnay has a bolder oak character – more rounded in the mouth with riper flavors of peach, apricot and honey.  The dominant flavor of “creme brûlée” is a result of the distinct character of the fairly heavily toasted oak in the wine.
The Lopez de Haro Rioja Reserva is a wonderful example of a red wine whose flavors intertwine seemlessly with oak.  The Temperanillo grape loves oak and as a “reserva,” this wine spends 20 months in a combination of French and American oak, smoothing out its rough edges, aging gently and becoming absolutely delicious.  The Roots Run Deep Winery’s Educated Guess Cabernet Sauvignon is the equivalent of a big, bold wine in exclusively American oak that Napa is famous for.  It is a burst of black currant and black berries with a deep, caramel, vanilla and leather set of flavors that lingers on the palate.
We hope to see you at Mystic Wine Shoppe soon,
Thanks for reading – Seema

As opening day for the Red Sox approaches, I can tell the fans are getting excited. The problem is and I have to be honest, I am not a baseball fan. I know people LOVE the Red Sox and I appreciate that – I am a fan of wines and would totally fan-girl over some famous winemakers, give critical commentary on their raw materials, their decisions for how to make wines, how to label them, when to release them. And most philosophical, I think people find real depth when thinking of and speaking about baseball – similar to the Truth that is said to lurk in every bottle of wine. The link between the two seems inevitable.

red sox opening day

Photo by: CBS Boston

Being a complete novice though at baseball, I began researching this game that so absorbs and thrills fans. The wisdom among its famous is quite real. For example, some guy named Bob Feller said, “Everyday is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind you and start over. That’s the way life is, with a new game everyday and that is the way baseball is.” Those truly are words to live by. I also loved Tommy LaSorda saying, “There are three types of baseball players, those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened.” Again, this is a very profound life lesson.

But perhaps the person most credited with folksy wisdom in baseball appears to be Yogi Berra. And these seem to be his best quotes:

• “When you get to a fork in the road, take it.”

• “It gets late early around here.”

• “A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.”

• “The future ain’t what it used to be.”

• “Ninety percent of this game is half mental.”

• “I really didn’t say everything I said.”

• “You can observe a lot just by watching.”

• “Half the lies they tell about me aren’t true.”

• “If you don’t know where you’re going, you might end up someplace else.”

• “Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too.”

But to go with all this wisdom, one needs the right wine. What better choice than the Red Sox Club Series Cabernet Sauvignon? Wine consumption grew 40% between 2000 and 2013 and baseball club series labels are sold in many stadiums these days – meaning people are drinking wine at baseball games. Beer is losing its supremacy. This wine is bold and structured, the perfect wine to go with meats off the grill – burgers, ribs and sausages. As a Cabernet Sauvignon, it is not as heavy as some others making it more approachable in the summer heat. But perfect for those “I’m-expecting-it-to-be-warm-but-it’s-still-cold” spring days. It has all the black currant you expect from a Cab but also some subtle hints of chocolate and tobacco, with a nice fruity finish. It is the perfect gift for a baseball fan on opening day!

Enjoy, Seema

I love it when I speak with people and they have strong opinions on wine. Sometimes the opinions are wrong (ahem), but nonetheless, it makes for a lively exchange. For years now, Pinot Noir has had a certain cache, it is the wine grape that has been made into some of the most legendary cuvees of Burgundy, the wellspring of ethereal, elusive, coveted and as a result, unimaginably expensive wines. But in the past few decades, it’s magic has been captured and vinified in the new world. There are purists who would recoil from the idea that one would drink Pinot Noir from anywhere but the golden slopes of Burgundy, but (ahem), they would be wrong.

It turns out that there are valleys in California and Oregon that make just beautiful, scented, delicate, poignant Pinot Noirs. And more recently, the art of Pinot Noir has come to New Zealand.

So what is it about Pinot Noir that is so magical and mysterious? Why do people wax poetic about it? The first thing is that it is a notoriously difficult grape to grow. As the Oxford Companion to Wine states, “Pinot Noir demands more of both the vine-grower and the winemaker…It is a tribute to the unparalleled level of physical excitement generated by tasting one of Burgundy’s better reds that such a high proportion of the world’s most ambitious wine producers want to try their hand with this capricious and extremely variable vine.”

Steve Bird is one such intrepid winemaker. He has dedicated his life to winemaking, coming to it as a high-schooler working at the local winery, studying it in college and then working in wineries his entire life. And his skill is well rewarded in his signature wine, the 2013 Bird Big Barrel Pinot Noir from the Marlborough wine region of the south island of New Zealand.

This wine has some magic in it. When you pour it, it has this amazing gem-like ruby brightness with hints of orange, which indicate it is 5 years old and ready for drinking. Then you smell it. The first impression is of cherry with a light herbal note – maybe mint? But patience is required. This wine has been sitting in this bottle for 5 years now. Swirl it some more – let is open up and relax a bit. Then take another deep breath of it. Now you start of find that elusive quality. It is now full of cherries, a hint of strawberry, some roses and violets and wonderful baking spices, some cloves, some licorice. And yet it remains delicate, there is nothing overt in this wine. It is coy and draws you in. On the palate it is fruity and mouthwatering with just the right amount of silky tannins to make it linger on the finish, again just the right amount.

And voila, one sees that Pinot Noir is indeed able to thrive and prosper outside Burgundy. There are many ways it can express itself. It can put forward its floral character, it can put forward its herbal character; it can be fruity but it can also be savory. But when it is well made, it is always wonderful.

Cheers, Seema (Our local wine expert)

steve_bird_winery_image_5feaac85-b838-4308-b652-fe47b3e05a85_1024x1024@2x

Steve Bird Winery

The angel on the label of this wine says it all – it is heavenly.  In more ways than one.  Not only is it absolutely, mouth-wateringly delicious, it is grown and made close to the clouds.  Alto Adige, Italy or more primly in Austria, Sudtirol, is a land of soaring mountains and lush green valleys divided by the Adige and Isarco rivers.

This is a rugged landscape that includes breathtaking vistas of little fairytale villages and dramatic snowy peaks that reach over 10,000 feet.  How do they grow vines in this amazing terrain that can also be cold and forbidding?  The answer is very carefully!  On small plots of land, lovingly tended by hundreds of farmers.  St. Michael-Eppan is a cooperative of 340 farmers who farm 380 hectares (939 acres) of land.  Large scale grape production would be impossible in this part of the southern Alps that are characterized by sometimes dizzying slopes.  In order to thrive, the vines are planted on south facing slopes to receive maximum sunlight and receive protection from the cold northerly winds howling down through the high mountains.  And because of the rugged terrain, the grapes must be hand-selected and harvested in small batches.

The Lahn Sauvignon Blanc from St. Michael-Eppan is the flagship wine of this wonderful producer.  Established in 1907 with 27 farmers originally, the winery has hewed to the highest standards of winemaking for over a century.  The limestone-gravel soils give the fruit lovely, floral aromas while aging on the lees and in oak barrels gives the wine a wonderful toasty, soft mouthfeel.  The natural character of the wine – apples, lemons, fresh cut hay – is preserved through careful handling resulting in a wine that is reminiscent of a very high quality Sancerre.  At only $16.99, given the amount of work that goes into the harvesting and winemaking, it is a huge bargain.

St. Michael Eppan John Sauvignon

My husband and I opened this wine after a very busy weekend over take out pizza.  To make it a bit more festive, after the pizza (potato & bacon and pepperoni & mushroom), we broke out a wonderful nutty aged Robusto Gouda, a nice, perfectly ripe Camembert and a borough-market Stilton with an arugula, blueberry and pine nut salad.  This wine stood up to all of it, despite being a cool-climate, relatively delicate white wine.  It was tangy enough to balance out the strong flavors of the pizza, yet fragrant and well structured enough to offset the richness of cheeses.  It was the perfect end to a hectic, exhausting weekend!

Prost!

Seema